Natural Resource Condition Assessment, Wind Cave National
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Wind Cave National Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment Natural Resource Report NPS/WICR/NRR—2011/478 ON THE COVER A view of the landscape at WICA. Photograph by: NPS Wind Cave National Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment Natural Resource Report NPS/WICA/NRR—2011/478 Barry Drazkowski (PI) Michael R. Komp Kevin Stark Andy J. Nadeau Shannon Amberg Eric Iverson Lucas Danzinger Lindsey Danielson GeoSpatial Services Saint Mary's University of Minnesota 700 Terrace Heights, Box #7 Winona, Minnesota 55987 This report was prepared under Task Agreement CAH6000080300 between the National Park Service and Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, through the Great Rivers Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. December 2011 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Report Series is used to disseminate high-priority, current natural resource management information with managerial application. The series targets a general, diverse audience, and may contain NPS policy considerations or address sensitive issues of management applicability. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report do not necessarily reflect views and policies of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U.S. Government. This report is available from The Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network and the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). Please cite this publication as: Komp, M. R., K. J. Stark, A. J. Nadeau, S. Amberg, E. Iverson, L. Danzinger, L. Danielson, and B. Drazkowski. 2011. Wind Cave National Park: Natural resource condition assessment. Natural Resource Report NPS/WICA/NRR—2011/478. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 108/112013, December 2011 ii Contents Page Contents ......................................................................................................................................... iii Figures............................................................................................................................................. v Tables ............................................................................................................................................ vii Plates .............................................................................................................................................. ix Photos ............................................................................................................................................. xi Appendices ................................................................................................................................... xiii Acronyms and Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... xv Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................... xvii Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... xix Chapter 1 NRCA Background Information .................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 Introduction and Resource Setting ................................................................................. 5 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 5 2.2 Natural Resources .............................................................................................................. 7 2.3 Resource Stewardship ...................................................................................................... 11 2.4 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................ 14 Chapter 3 Study Scoping and Design ........................................................................................... 19 3.1 Preliminary Scoping ........................................................................................................ 19 3.2 Study Design .................................................................................................................... 20 3.3 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................ 29 Chapter 4 Natural Resource Component Summaries ................................................................... 31 4.1 Land Cover Extent ........................................................................................................... 31 4.2 Fire Regime ..................................................................................................................... 48 4.3 Native Plant Communities ............................................................................................... 64 iii Contents (continued) Page 4.4 Birds ................................................................................................................................. 86 4.5 Elk .................................................................................................................................. 105 4.6 Bison .............................................................................................................................. 110 4.7 Prairie Dogs ................................................................................................................... 116 4.8 Black-footed Ferret ........................................................................................................ 122 4.9 Pronghorn ...................................................................................................................... 130 4.10 Porcupine ..................................................................................................................... 134 4.11 Herptile Species ........................................................................................................... 138 4.12 Bats .............................................................................................................................. 144 4.13 Coyote .......................................................................................................................... 150 4.14 Natural Cave Environment .......................................................................................... 155 4.15 Water Quality ............................................................................................................... 162 4.16 Changes in Hydrology ................................................................................................. 173 4.17 Air Quality ................................................................................................................... 179 4.18 Soundscape .................................................................................................................. 194 4.19 Viewshed ..................................................................................................................... 197 4.20 Dark Night Skies .......................................................................................................... 203 Chapter 5 Discussion .................................................................................................................. 207 5.1 Component Data Gaps ................................................................................................... 207 5.2 Component Condition Designations .............................................................................. 209 5.3 Park-wide Condition Observations ................................................................................ 212 Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 215 iv Figures Page Figure 1. Graphical representation of current condition and trend of a component ..................... 27 Figure 2. Perimeter of the 2000 Highland Creek Wildfire on 1990s black and white aerial photography and 2010 true color aerial photography ......................................................... 37 Figure 3. Annual burned area in WICA, 1980-2009. Note: area was calculated using fire perimeters clipped to current park boundaries ....................................................................... 55 Figure 4. Number of species detected during on and off road breeding bird surveys in WICA from 1999-2009 ................................................................................................................